A Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist at the Los Angeles Daily News, The Press-Enterprise and other newspapers for two decades, I write for Reuters, Newsmax, Bankrate.com, National Wildlife, Human Events, Watchdog.org, Consumers Digest and many other media outlets. I specialize in politics, investigative reporting, business and entertainment. During my career, I've won more than two dozen local, state and national writing awards, 2011 and 2012 Eddie Awards, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was featured as an investigative reporter in The McGraw-Hill Companies book, "Careers For Puzzle-Solvers & Other Methodical Thinkers." I'm a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the nation's premier association of nonfiction writers who have met ASJA's exacting standards of professional achievement.

During my career, I've won more than two dozen local, state and national writing awards, including 2011 and 2012 Eddie Awards (Folio: magazine's prestigious journalism awards) for a Rebel magazine series entitled "Rebel With a Cause." In 2004, I was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a Los Angeles Daily News foster care series that contributed to what were described as "revolutionary" national reforms. In 1998, I won a national first place award from the Donrey Media Group for an investigative series in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame told a jam-packed crowd at a California event commemorating the 20th anniversary of one of the worst mass slaughters in modern history that the Central African nation embodies the best and worst of humanity.

At a time when the nation's infrastructure faces a growing threat from cyber-attacks, maritime and homeland security officials say they are making significant progress in protecting the nation's ports, which are critical to the global economy.

Not so long ago, shopping was easy. Goods had a set price, and if customers liked the price, they bought the item. If they didn't, they went elsewhere. Today, prices can change from hour to hour - even minute to minute.

Declining U.S. and global fertility rates could have dire consequences, including threatening economic stability - even pushing nations to the brink of war, a groundbreaking new book warns. At home, the decline could wreak havoc on Social Security, already on course to run dry within 10 years.

Americans love going overseas to visit the historic castles of Europe. But the fact is we have our own castles here in the United States, complete with towering turrets, romantic drawbridges, and secret passageways.

Those familiar with the fervor of the animal-rights community weren't the least surprised this fall when "Trapping is torture" billboards blanketed Minnesota highways, accompanied by lurid images of bloody wolf carcasses.

(Reuters) - The retired space shuttle Endeavour rolled at a snail-like pace through narrow city streets on Saturday, arriving five hours late at a key checkpoint but steadily closing in on its final destination at a museum.

(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown and lawmakers have reached a deal to raise public employees' retirement ages, have them pay more into their pension accounts, and cap retirement payments in a vast overhaul of the state's pension system that he says will save $30 billion.

Hollywood has officially been born again - at least when it comes to Bible movies. Not since the 1950s and '60s when director Cecil B. DeMille and others brought a flood of faith stories to the big screen (think "The Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston), has Hollywood had so many stories of faith

One issue getting barely a mention in this year's presidential contest is the rising collateral damage from the war on drugs, including swelling U.S prison populations and cartel violence that has claimed nearly 50,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.

I may be one of the most unlikely Olympic decathletes in the history of the games. I'm shorter and lighter than most decathletes. In fact, I'm the smallest decathlete to ever win an Olympic gold medal.

(Reuters) - Tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend Junior Seau's public memorial in a San Diego stadium on Friday, more than a week after the former National Football League star killed himself in his beachfront home.

(Reuters) - A group of activist parents in this impoverished community were thwarted again in their bid to become the first in the nation to seize control of a public school under a controversial "parent trigger" law designed to shake up chronically failing schools.

LOS ANGELES, March 21 (Reuters) - Police investigating the 1974 murder of a U.S. Marine whose body was identified only recently said they have so far found no links to a serial killer
active in California at the time but have not ruled out a connection.

Mold mania swept the United States a decade ago after lawsuits filed by celebrities Ed McMahon, Erin Brockovich and Michael Jordan stoked fears about "killer mold." Now, a new threat has emerged - a "house-eating fungus" that can devour homes in months.

After spending his childhood in a devout Christian home caring for his ill mother, Scott Harrison rebelled at age 18, grew out his hair, joined a rock band and moved to New York City to become rich and famous.

Amid the worst recession in modern history, the salaries of top Los Angeles County officials have shot up 12 to 45 percent in three years and some public servants are now making more than $400,000 annually in total compensation, a Los Angeles Daily News investigation has found.

In the middle of the 17th century, a Jewish scribe in Kolin, Czechoslovakia, sat down at a table with a feather quill and a bottle of special ink and spent a year writing the "Five Books of Moses" on the skin of a kosher animal.

In a tale worthy of Greek tragedy, the lion king of the Santa Monica Mountains a few years ago murdered his lioness and two of his offspring.
Yet the fierce P-1, as scientists call him, has never attacked people or pets.

Deep inside one of 260 caves in California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Shane Fryer stared for 20 minutes at a square-meter of ground, seeing little of interest. Then he noticed a tiny, moving dust flake.

At a time when government agencies are cutting back on law enforcement, health care for children and services for the poor, the number of public servants collecting $100,000-plus pensions - including one raking in nearly $500,000 a year - has exploded in recent years.

Gazing out a large window in the pastor's office at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Arlene Epps-Gray explains how a mother who once owned a four-bedroom home surrounded by a pond and a barn became a homeless drug addict. She recalls a pivotal event, a childhood trauma seared into her memory.

No one knows Mother Nature's fury like Daniel and Mary Rios.
In a tragic confluence of misfortune, the Rios family has lost three San Fernando Valley homes to natural disasters. First it was the Sylmar Earthquake of 1971. Then the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. And now, the Sayre Fire.

Despite all the recent attacks on faith, or perhaps, because of them, these are definitely the best of times for Christian apologists such as Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, Ben Witherington III, Darrell Bock, and J. P. Moreland.

(Cover Story) Other Christian magazines annually report on the "fastest-growing churches in America." But what about those church plants-ones that you might not quite be familiar with-that Jesus has blessed with phenomenal growth in a short period of time?

In 2011, Valero Energy Corporation purchased just a quarter of the crude oil it processed at its refineries from North American suppliers. Today, the company acquires nearly half of its oil from North American sources.

Not long after the Iran hostage crisis, the authorities arrested Hormoz Shariat's 16-year-old brother, Hamraz, on a minor political charge. In 1984, after two years in jail, Shariat's brother was executed by a firing squad.

The sign on the door is the only clue to the treasure trove of entertainment artifacts, nostalgia and history locked inside the iconic Hollywood skyscraper. Whether it's the recordings of Beatles and Elvis or films by Hitchcock and Spielberg, this 14-story skyscraper is a Tinseltown time capsule.

Raised in a Catholic home in Chicago, Jack Rogers would go to confessional and talk to the priest, but he never felt "totally relieved of my sins." Over the years, Rogers would attend various churches, but he never felt connected to God.

For Ric Campo, the benefits of Super Bowl 2017 transcend the cash it will put in people' pockets.
Sure, Houston Mayor Annise Parker expects the economic impact to exceed the $480 million generated in New Orleans during its Super Bowl
in 2013.

One of the most elaborately and colorfully decorated Victorian homes in Los Angeles is just a blur to those speeding by along the Arroyo Seco - the first freeway in California. But for those who take the time to visit the historic Hale House, an enchanting - if not otherworldly - adventure awaits.

When Christine Coyle Johnson first saw the basement of the Burbank, Calif., home where she lived since 1997, she was stunned to discover walls covered with vibrant and colorful circus scenes remarkably reminiscent of those in Walt Disney's beloved film, "Dumbo."

While President Obama touts the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 as a "victory for middle-class families" that will boost the economy and shrink the deficit, Stewart A. Feldman says this claim is nothing more than a deceptive mirage.

When New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg tells audiences that America isn't mentioned in Bible prophecy, many are stunned and ask how the wealthiest, most powerful nation in history isn't a specifically defined player in the last days.

As the drumbeat for war grows louder, the most burning questions for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - and U.S. President Barack Obama - are whether and at what point to launch preemptive strikes on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities.

DENVER - Amid mounting concerns nationwide regarding voter fraud, a ColoradoWatchdog.org analysis found Colorado is one of the most problematic states with large numbers of inactive voters, "dirty" voter registration rolls and other problems.

One morning in December 2005, I awoke from a vivid dream, and the first thought that came to my mind was, "I want you to podcast the Bible." I sat up, shook off the dream and made a pot of coffee. But "I want you to podcast the Bible" became the tape playing over and over in my subconscious.

In recent years, experts have predicted the coming of "peak oil." The International Energy Agency announced not long ago that global oil production had likely reached its peak in 2006 at about 70 million barrels a day.

At first glance, the lawsuit that insurance giant State Farm filed against tattoo artist and reality TV star Kat Von D seems "outrageous," one insurance expert says. State Farm paid $909,199 after a fire burned down the home the former "L.A. Ink" star was leasing in the Hollywood Hills.

Former Joints Chief of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen likens the "cyber threat" to Russia's stockpile of nuclear weapons.
FBI Director Robert Mueller testified cyber-attacks will soon overtake terrorism as the top national security focus of his agency.

As the $17 billion annual taxpayer tab for government employees' pensions and retiree health care increases at a rate of several billion dollars a year, Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach says California is heading for an economic meltdown.

Jeff Villepique usually carries bear spray when he goes into the mountains. But the California Department of Fish and Game biologist isn't worried about bears as he walks to the edge of a steep, rocky wash near the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts resort in Southern California.

Like another famous swashbuckling treasure hunter, he has a fear of snakes. He's not adverse to associating with mystics, charlatans and crooks in his quest for prized artifacts.
But unlike his fictional alter ego, the "British Indiana Jones" claims he's discovered the genuine Ark of the Covenant.

During his six-year journey to make the movie Amazing Grace, producer Ken Wales visited St. Mary Woolnoth, the London church where the pastor and former slave trader John Newton wrote the beloved song for which the film was named.

It was 2004 and Korn's lead guitarist Brian "Head" Welch had hit rock bottom. As a member of the controversial nu-metal band that became the voice for youth worldwide with lyrics about alienation and abuse, the pressures of the rock star life had torn his marriage apart.

On the wall behind the easel at his Claremont studio, world-renowned painter Karl Benjamin displays a simple drawing of a dog jumping up on a table, a gift a child gave to him decades ago when Benjamin was an elemetary school teacher.

Sam Maloof doesn't believe his ancestors helped build Solomon's Temple. But it's a fair question to ask the son of immigrants from a mountain village in Lebanon - a stone's throw away from the famous cedars used to build God's temple on earth.